Category: Leaders

** An IT pro who forgot English and a professor who fumbled with Math!

“The peculiar language problem can be ignored quite often. This is a unique and rare situation affecting specific languages due to a stroke,” said Dr NK Venkataramana, Founder Chairman and Director Neurosciences, Brains Hospitals, Bengaluru.

** Veteran ISRO scientist Ramabhadran Aravamudan dies at 84

Veteran space scientist Ramabhadran Aravamudan, who was among the first to join the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1962 when it was still named Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), died in Bengaluru late Wednesday night.

He had been ailing for over a year with kidney problems.

Eighty-four-year-old Aravamudan retired from ISRO in 1997 after being a director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (spaceport) in Sriharikota, and the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) in Bengaluru. He had closely worked with ‘Missile Man’ Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. He was known for his expertise in satellite tracking and telemetry.

** A golden future for turmeric

For CV Prakash — a former naval officer who is also recognised as an expert in soil-less agriculture — making turmeric (Curcuma longa) more profitable for the ordinary farmer has become a passion during lockdown.

His ongoing Mission Turmeric 2021 aims to begin an “orange revolution”, he says, by teaching people to cultivate the spice in grow bags (large porous containers made of high density polyethelene) packed with coco-peat (made from the pith of the coconut husk) instead of soil, in shade houses.

  • India is the world’s biggest producer of turmeric, (centred in the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh and Orissa ). At least 30 varieties of cultivars are grown in the country.

** Remembering the work of Fa.Gu. Halakatti

Amid the COVID-19 restrictions, several organisations across North Karnataka region held symbolic programmes on Friday remembering the contributions of Fa.Gu. Halakatti, the man credited with ‘reviving Lingayatism’ through his efforts of collecting and publishing ‘vachanas’ in the first half of the 20th century.

** ‘Was challenging’: Mangaluru doctor on leading world’s first mucor lung surgery

Dr Klein Dantis, a 35-year-old thoracic surgeon from the coastal city of Mangaluru, was part of the world’s first successful mucor lung surgery that took place at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Raipur, early this month.

Raised in Kinnigoli, Klein completed his MBBS and MS in Mangaluru, and superspeciality training at National Institute of TB and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi. He worked for a year at All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Bhopal, before being appointed consultant at AIIMS Raipur.

** Koppal: Dr Mahesh – Covid warrior who stayed inside hospital for 1 month

Normally people are afraid of coronavirus disease. Many doctors who were assigned with Covid duties have fallen victims to this dreaded disease. Among the doctors who take strains to work effectively, Dr Mahesh, district tuberculosis officer, takes the cake.

Dr Mahesh has emerged as a model for others by working non-stop for over a month in the Covid hospital. He stayed inside the hospital, overlooking his responsibilities towards his family, house, wife and children. He is a corona warrior in the real sense.